


the size of our love.

by riskbreakered



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Post Crooked Kingdom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8258143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riskbreakered/pseuds/riskbreakered
Summary: A promise to keep.





	

Nina Zenik curses into the wind. After so much dreadful labor her hands have forgone simple aches and have nearly turned to ice. She leaves the shovel propped against the outside of the old fisherman's shack, her work for the day finally at an end. The nearby waves sweep against the rocky shore in a shudder, an endless chorus of sorrow that echoes along the beach at her retreat. 

(Matthias is buried not far from here -- she thinks he would find this place suitable enough. With her eyes closed, as she listens to the wind, she can imagine the distant howling of wolves. A long-lost brother welcomed back at last.)

She retreats into the fisherman's hut, its former owner having long abandoned it; she lights a fire in the stove to keep her warm, a lantern to place on the dusty table. Civilization as she knew it is far behind her now, and with it many familiar comforts. There's little to welcome her in Fjerda, as a Grisha, as the enemy. Her stay is, by necessity, only temporary.

A cold and sunless day slowly gives way to evening and its sharp and hungry winds, a gale that rises from the sea and shakes the empty trees. Even in the confines of the shack she feels the cold sink deep into her bones, her hands finding a hot mug of tea to wrap around.

It's lonely here, she thinks, and more dreadful than she remembers. Nina closes her eyes and imagines Inej sitting with her, sharing a blanket and a platter full of waffles. She considers the need for food only briefly before setting it aside.

Nina has accomplished much in her short life; endured more than her share of suffering. But this -- 

Like the waves shattering against the shore, she can feel her heart as it breaks, again and again. As dark and endless as that great northern sea stretched outside to the clouded and starless horizon, she can only succumb to this mourning and feel herself as she sinks inside of it, further and further.

This longing, it stretches itself between each moment, each minute. They had spent so little time together (not nearly enough). Even now, as Nina makes her bed on the floor near the stove, wraps herself in blankets and tries to imagine Matthias' arms around her, she can feel those tiny memories slipping.

No matter how much she wants to hold him here, Nina knows she must let him go.

She falls asleep listening to the wind. She dreams of wolves and a snow-covered path inside the deep Fjerden woods. She dreams of a love she might one day find again.

Somewhere along a lonely stretch of rocky northern shore, Nina sleeps on the floor of a fisherman's shack and dreams of home.


End file.
